Tag: stars also dream

“One day, I’m gonna fly,” he says, full of conviction, eyes trained upwards at a flock of birds soaring through the sky. He’s not there yet, but he will be.

Kyougi throws a piece of rubble at him, Santa yelps in over exaggerated pain. “Your feet are on the ground, which is where your eyes should be too. The faster we get this done, the better.”

Chinatsu, far more dutiful, gives a soft chuckle at her teammates’ antics nonetheless. The disapproving tongue click that their sensei gives is less fond.

Properly scolded, Santa turns his gaze downward, resuming his share of their D-rank. “One day, I’m gonna rescue a princess,” Santa mutters, as he sorts through the debris. If he can keep him and his team distracted maybe they won’t have to think about what they’re doing. He knows it’s not something he should be complaining about–rebuilding in the weeks after the Kyuubi Attack is important, sure, that doesn’t mean he can’t wish for a more exciting mission.

Or at least one that isn’t so depressing.

“As if,” Kyougi says, rolling her eyes, but still playing along, “We’re going to be stuck with smugglers or farmers all through our career.”

“There aren’t a lot of princesses to be rescued,” Kyougi continues, “And I doubt we’ll ever be chosen to go on a mission to do the rescuing.”

“Not with that attitude,” Santa snipes back.

Tokumei-sensei clicks his tongue again, before pointing at a fallen wall, aiming them wordlessly as if they were simple beasts of burden. Still, he and Kyougi fall silent once more as they and Chinatsu head in that direction.

Chinatsu lifts up the wall while he and Kyougi reach underneath. Grimly, they pull the body out, another black ringed scroll to be sorted through later and returned to any next of kin.

They’re quiet for a while after. Miserable and quiet, which is probably what their sensei prefers.

Chinatsu is the one to break the silence, “I’d like to fly someday, too.“

~

A/N: A bit of a prologue to Stars Also Dream in which these three genin have no idea what’s in store for them. The spreadsheet of DoS timeline and OCs was very helpful–and given how long it took me to address this prompt even with such a short fill, I really needed as much help as I could get! O_O

Kyougi Nara is an SQ original. Chinatsu Akimichi is dona’s. And their awful Hyuuga sensei is Pepperdoken’s.

Attachment is discouraged–no, worse than that–attachment is blasphemous.

And yet, what could the bond between master and padawan possibly be otherwise?

Still, you keep such questions to yourself. No need to cause complications for Master Bant, and you are reluctant to prove yourself anything less than the perfect student. (Pride, that’s blasphemous, too.)

The bond between you and Master Bant grow even as missions turn from tense assignments to fraught battles, the galaxy going to war. She teaches you negotiating and healing and fighting and how to tell when is the right time for each. She teaches you how to survive, she teaches you to be independent, she teaches you that sometimes the most important things are the ones left unsaid.

You never told Master Bant “thank you” because the relationship between master and padawan inherently revolves around teaching. It would be like thanking gravity for pulling you to the planet, or thanking the stars for burning bright in the void of space.

You also never told Master Bant “I love you.”

You didn’t have the words for it until long after Master Bant’s light had gone out.

—

The couple who find you–you and the wreckage of your emergency shuttle–stare at you with wide, kind, and concerned eyes, not a drop of fear in them.

How foolish. You could hurt them. So easily. Your lightsaber unlit but steady in your grip. You are mourning, ravaged with your grief, and you understand now how Jedi could fall to the Dark side. You are nothing more than your emotions, your loss, and these people mean nothing to you.

But they are kind and fearless–oblivious–they see only a crying child, and not the battle-hardened warrior you truly are.

But perhaps they aren’t entirely wrong, either. When the woman draws closer, labor rough hands gently wiping at your tears, you do not attack. You collapse into her embrace, body wracked with sobs, grip tightly, desperately, to the fabric of her clothes, aching to hold on.

A few days later, you erase this particular moment from their memories to keep them safe from your past–or to keep your past safe from them–but maybe, you think, in the future you will tell them the truth.

A few years later, another war of a smaller but no less horrific scale breaks out.

You are the last Kinokawa.

—

You have learned by now about keeping things to yourself. You know so well the poisonous coursing of regret in your heart. Words bitten back and left to fester because those who would hear them are no longer alive.

You want to tell your family. Or, rather, you don’t not want to tell them before it’s too late.

That deadline approaches, tensions rise, the familiar vanguard of war. Your family sent out to the front lines, in the thick of it, already scarred by the dangers you couldn’t shield them from. You have your youngest child to think of, but what kind of mother would you be if you didn’t do all you could to ensure the world Eerin grew up in were as safe and peaceful as could be?

Send me, send me, you do not ask, do not say.

You do not need to. You send yourself.

~

A/N: the last one isn’t really SAD canon compliant with the whole “post-Gelel Yoshino involves herself with the events of Episode IV” plot… probably it’s part of the post-Jashin!AU?

Also! In somewhat related news: I’ve maybe figured out how to get the DoS podfic onto apple podcasts/itunes? Still working on it–will keep everyone updated!

A/N1: Hey sister, I’m sorry it took so long for me to respond and I’m even more sorry that you are unable to be yourself. But I’m glad that you have reached out, that you have that small comfort to revel in your identity, and I hope that someday soon you will be able to do so completely.

Be strong, be safe, and know that we are here for you. I would love to fill this prompt for you; thank you for bringing it to me.

~

1) Shadows Also Dream: Or, Eerin Nara* is Not a Jedi

There is no Light side, there is no Dark side, there is only the Force.

Eerin breathes, lets the waves of natural chakra wash over him, meditates and centers himself. The sun is only beginning it’s climb into the sky, cold air damp with dew.

This is nothing compared to his Mum’s morning stretches.

Around him he can feel the other students do the same, can feel them harmonize their chakra to each other, to their teacher’s…

… all except for one.

He opens his eyes and meets someone else’s–Ben Organa, Master Luke’s nephew, though that’s not really how he’s supposed to be considered.

Just another student like everyone else.

The sun is still rising, casting long shadows across the ground. His family would consider it strategically ideal.

Ben’s eyes widen in surprise, before he turns away, red creeping along his cheeks. Embarrassment more than anger, but not without the latter.

Eerin closes his eyes–quick so as to avoid Master Luke’s attention, but long enough for what really matters.

A figure in armor, helmet, and cloak. A lightsaber held high over fallen bodies.

There is no Light side, there is no Dark side, there is only the Force. But even then: Eerin doesn’t need to be a user of Light to save lives.

That last one has less to do with her abilities and more to do with her determination.

Of course, whose to say how any of that will come to pass.

Perhaps Galileo will never betray her because he will die long before he ever could–their line of work far from safe, and him in the thick of things.

Perhaps her visions are never wrong, but her interpretation of them–lacking context–may very well be.

And perhaps instead of killing her father, he will end up killing her instead. Or perhaps he’ll drink himself to death, or he’ll have a heart attack, or he’ll slip on a wet sidewalk and crack his head open.

She’ll never have that problem, at least. Her eyes are always on the ground, always steps ahead of everyone else just by looking at their shadow.

Until, one day, her father’s shadow changes.

Ah, so she really will kill him one day.

Unless he has another daughter who will beat her to the punch.

~

3) Walking Around (Eyes Wide Open): Or, Sakako Uchiha Does Not See Dead People

In a family of shadow manipulators, it’s easy enough to ignore.

At first.

For the Nara, silhouettes are less about physics and more about discipline and creativity. Despite her name, the Nara genes run strong, and there is no harm in that.

By itself.

But she is still the Uchiha heiress, and whether or not curse of her bloodline is fact or superstition, it still flows through her veins.

The Sharingan. Once it sees something, it can never forget.

But maybe, if she doesn’t understand–if she chooses not to–then it doesn’t matter. Just strange shapes upon the ground instead of messages from beyond.

Mum doesn’t often speak about her younger years–it is in the past, she says, to be learned from but not drag us down–but Sakako understands enough:

Knowledge is both power and responsibility.

Once she takes that step, she can never go back.

~

A/N2: Three different fills! Just trying to get a feel for this ability, because it seems very cool but I don’t know if I fully understand it as a mechanism yet. I might come back to it in the future! 😀

So “Eerin Nara” is the Stars Also Dream equivalent of Kinokawa Nara. Going with the idea that the closest thing SAD!Yoshino had to family was her Jedi Master Bant Eerin, not the Kinokawas who, while very nice, didn’t really understand her.

I have some ideas for what kanji the name Eerin would use, but I’m not sure which is the best. Not that his kanji is important in a writing sense, given I write in English, but I like having that little tidbit of ~flavoring~. Kanji possibilities under the cut for anyone else interested.

So in a world where Shikadai doesn’t have five cousins–specifically via his aunt Shikako, that is –he would be the closest thing to a child she ever has. Literally. Siblings are biologically the closest to each other–especially twins, even if they’re not identical–so genetically Shikadai is the closest thing a childless Shikako would have to a descendant.

Which means he might be the closest thing to an heir for her legacy if she doesn’t take on apprentices like Tsunade does. Or maybe a literal heir for all her earthly possessions if she ever does permanently die. (Which, I mean, given her track record, the probability is less than average)

Or maybe it’s something like Shikadai tries to solve the mystery of his missing aunt and thereby becomes her heir (whether he actually finds her or not)?

It’s a lovely title, anon, I’m just not sure what direction to go with this. The only thing I am sure of, though, is that this is NOT within the Stars Also Dream ‘verse, mostly because Shikako herself isn’t so involved in that ‘verse and of Yoshino’s children I’m pretty sure Kinokawa (… or Bant? Eerin? Would SAD!Yoshino still name her youngest child after the Kinokawas if her “real” family was her Jedi Master?) would be the most involved in ~the ways of the Force~.

And, see, this is where the problem of human desire for continuity/patterns arises because this just feels to me like a “Shikako has disappeared (into her Gelel stone) and Shikadai is trying to find her” very early on in the Foundation of Yesterday mythos.

Like. Where yesterday’s post would be about Shikako (and Gaara’s) story millennia in the future, Edge of the Stars would be the immediate aftermath of the jinchuuriki and Shikako going dormant for Kaguya’s possible future revival.

Eh… while I do like it as a story premise, that seems a little lazy to just ride FoY’s coattails.

Maybe it’s a different sci-fi Star series crossover/fusion?

Shikako discovers a Stargate in the depths/remains of the Gelel shrine (on a research mission from Suna) and is flung to the far-reaches of the galaxy where Goa’uld are still strong. She resigns herself to joining the efforts against them only because she figures, so long as she fights them there, they won’t trace back her path and find her home planet and all her loved ones.

Except it’s been years–decades, almost–since she’s disappeared. Most everyone thinks she’s dead. As far as Shikadai is concerned, she may as well be, he’s never actually met her. But both of his parents (and all of his uncles) are certain that she’s still alive somehow.

Does his generation of Team Ten get assigned a basic joint mission with some Sand ninja in a patrol of the Ikioi-En when a sudden lightning storm/earthquake heralds the arrival of Shikako? Or the arrival of an alien army that overwhelms the genin teams, only for a lone figure to strike it down and send it back through the portal in retreat?

… the problem is that I don’t actually know that much about the Stargate franchise.

I know much more about Star Trek, but that’s less conducive to the same “Shikako goes missing/deliberately leaves,” only because the Federation has a Thing about first contact and they wouldn’t just abscond with a person.

And even if it’s not the Federation that she encounters, the other various organizations (depending on which series you’re going with could be Romulan, Klingon, Borg, etc.) aren’t exactly subtle either? They would be BIG NEWS on a planetary scale even if Shikako’s the only one who understands what’s going on.

I think the Stargate one has a more compelling plot.

I mean, even if we don’t want to go with the Ikioi-En setting, we could do an Uzushio version instead? Eh, that’s just trappings, though. What do you think, anon?

This isn’t related, anon, but can I just say that this choice of title resonates so nicely with me? More specifically, with my own OC, Tetsuki Kaiza from Trailblazers. Hey? Lighting the way~

Eh, anyway, this title seems like not within the SAD timeline, if that makes any sense. Within the same ‘verse, of course, but some time after the events of SAD (which is Yoshino getting involved in Episode IV, at least).

Maybe Light the Way is the title for the Episode V equivalent? But that seems like a bit of a cop out for this ask box event…

Unless this isn’t Yoshino’s story at all… maybe it’s Shikako’s?

OR MAYBE IT’S KINOKAWA’S?! (☆▽☆)

… I mean, timing-wise, Kinokawa would be about the same age as Poe Dameron–a little older than Rey and Finn–which means he could be the Yoshino equivalent for the sequel trilogy.

And given SAD starts while Yoshino is pregnant with Kinokawa, it’d be thematically appropriate for him to be her most Force sensitive child and, depending on if she reveals her heritage, the one she trains in its ways?

But he’s definitely not a Jedi. He just happens to know how to use the Force, is all.

I really do like that idea, but I don’t know what else I can say about it without two out of three of the sequel trilogy…

Kinokawa, Space Shinobi!

… oh no… did he know Ben when they were younger? Is he the Naruto to Kylo Ren’s Sasuke? O_O

Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s very much difference between SAD!Shikaku and DoS!Shikaku–given that SAD is as close to a DoS!canon x Star Wars fusion as I could make and so the main difference in the ‘verses is Yoshino’s background… but here’s what I was able to come up with? I hope you enjoy!

~

Yoshino Kinokawa is a civilian born member of the Genin Corps who has made a name for herself based mostly on two facts:

She is best friends with Ibiki Morino, who everyone knows is slated for T&I–if Seki Hijiri’s somewhat concerning and potentially nefarious plans for him come to fruition.

And every mission she is part of goes… weird.

Shikaku hears of her name long before he actually meets her: he’s looking forward to it.

///

It’s traditional, when seeking to court someone, to get approval from their parents.

By the time Shikaku thinks of doing so, war has already ravaged the land: Yoshino is the last Kinokawa.

The fields of their little farm is, in turns, burnt and flooded, pockmarks of explosions and metal shrapnel sticking out of the ground like a cruel parody of the crops that must have once grown here.

Later, after everything, Yoshino goes out to the farm just once.

Shikaku does not ask.

///

He loves Yoshino.

He will live for her and would die for her and has and will continue to kill for her–affection expressed through murder, as most shinobi do.

He loves her, he trusts her…

… but that doesn’t mean he can’t be suspicious, sometimes.

Growing up in a clan is a different experience from growing up in a civilian family, this he knows. But he also knows that Yoshino’s child-rearing methods are far closer to the former than the latter–though, still vastly different from both.

(If Shikaku knew more about the Fire Temple, he would have made the connection easily.)

///

His son and he are very similar, links in the chain of Nara clan heads–smart and practical and devoted–but Shikamaru has Yoshino’s temper, flaring bright and hot in moments before banking down to embers. Not diminished, but held back until needed.

Shikako goes cold, steely and deadly, revenge planned out twelve moves ahead, just like her father.

He is but one man, from a planet who has not even yet discovered space travel, but should this Empire encroach on what is his, he will not hesitate.

They come down from the sky on a metal ship; just the two of them and their strange armored ninken.

They want to talk to the leader of the planet.

Father laughs, unsurprising. How do they not know that the world is at war–has always been at war? There are no leaders beyond clan heads and whatever shaky holds the daimyo have on the land.

Still, Father lets them stay for a time; the Senju are not called the clan with a thousand skills for nothing.

When an enemy squadron attacks, they defeat them all easily, just the two of them, with their swords made of lightning.

They leave afterwards, say they will send people in the future–to talk when the world has learned peace.

Tobirama learns that peace isn’t weakness–it’s about being strong enough to not need to fight.

///

When you are eight, you are brought in to speak to the lead teaching Jedi, as all members of your clan are. You are asked about your future plans, about what comes after being an initiate.

Every eight year old at the Temple wants to be a Jedi Knight; to be otherwise is considered a failure.

But you don’t think that’s true.

“An Archivist,” you say, because all of your clan mates have no doubt said they want to become padawans and you’re sure the lead teacher is bored of it. And plus, it’s always better to keep your options open; you’ve always been interested in Jedi traditions, and becoming a curator of them would be a contented existence. “There is still wisdom to be had from our history.”

The lead teacher nods, accepting. There is no change in expression on hir face, which you ought to have expected.

You are dismissed and so you go to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, letting the waters calm you.

You don’t become an Archivist.

///

In the Crystal Cave of Ilum’s Jedi Temple, you undergo The Gathering.

Like many padawan before you it is a test of patience, resourcefulness, and resilience.

It is painfully cold.

You don’t let that stop you.

You are searching for the kyber crystal that will be the heart of your lightsaber, there is no rushing it.

And except for the cold, you don’t think it’s such a terrible experience, the cave practically sings to you–the earth and stone more calming than even the waters of the Coruscant fountains.

When you emerge, kyber crystal in hand, Master Bant looks relieved and proud.